Aerodynamic performance of a 5-metre-diameter Darrieus turbine with extruded aluminum NACA-0015 blades

Abstract

A 5-metre-diameter vertical-axis wind turbine has undergone continued testing since 1976 at the Sandia Laboratories Wind Turbine site. The latest tests of this machine have been with extruded aluminum blades of NACA-0015 airfoil cross section. The results of these tests at several turbine rotational speeds are presented and compared with earlier test results. A performance comparison is made with a vortex/lifting line computational code. The performance of the turbine with the extruded blades met all expectations.